“An old-fashioned butt-kicking”: Rillie admits Wildcats were beaten up

The Perth Wildcats’ NBL26 Championship hopes hang by a thread after Wednesday night’s heavy Seeding Qualifier defeat to South East Melbourne.

Despite not playing for more than a week, the Wildcats could not match the energy of the hosts at John Cain Arena, losing 111-94.

In the post-game press conference, Wildcats coach John Rillie was honest with his assessment of the Finals fixture.

“It was an old-fashioned butt-kicking,” Rillie said in the post-game press conference.

“Even though we had a couple of moments where we looked like we were getting momentum, they (the Phoenix) did a great job of keeping the flow where they wanted it.

“We had nice offensive possessions early, but then relaxed without being relentless with our decision-making and execution, and they turned us over and got the game on their terms.

“They executed their game plan beautifully. Josh King was the MVP of the game, and their players did a hell of a job carrying out his plan.”

That game plan started with, as King called it, ‘one of their better defensive performances of the season’.

This included the hosts winning the steal count 12-3, leading to a 17-5 turnover count, with Defensive Player of the Year, John Brown III, being at the heart of that.

“We tried to dribble too much against their pressure instead of using the pass,” Rillie said.

“How we played off those actions was a big reason for a lot of our turnovers against their pressure.

“For us to be successful, we need all hands on deck, and they had great performers tonight, and we didn't have enough of those.”

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The Wildcats will have to quickly regroup and lick their wounds, as they host the Play-In Game on Saturday night, against the winner of Thursday’s elimination fixture between Melbourne and Tasmania.

“We really come away feeling like none of our players helped the team at a really high level, so I look at that as a lot of room for improvement on Saturday,” Rillie said.

“The reason we play the regular season is to earn another opportunity, so we'll flush that [result] and move on.

“We'll have a new opponent too on Saturday, who won't play the same way as South East Melbourne, so we have to adjust and prepare for that.”

Saturday’s Play-In Game at RAC Arena tips off at 8pm AEDT, live on ESPN.

Before that, United and the JackJumpers will lock horns on Thursday for a chance to play Perth, with their Play-In Qualifier tipping off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.